| CHAPTER | PAGE | |
| I. | [The Note ] | 1 |
| II. | [The Shot ] | 9 |
| III. | [The Police ] | 15 |
| IV. | [The Inquest ] | 24 |
| V. | [The Secretary ] | 36 |
| VI. | [Corroborative Evidence ] | 44 |
| VII. | [The Lawyer ] | 51 |
| VIII. | [Lee Darwin ] | 56 |
| IX. | [The Verdict ] | 63 |
| X. | [Jenkins' Advice ] | 72 |
| XI. | [Arthur Trenton ] | 79 |
| XII. | [An Explanation ] | 85 |
| XIII. | [The Suicide ] | 92 |
| XIV. | [Graydon McKelvie ] | 100 |
| XV. | [The Interview ] | 108 |
| XVI. | [The Exhibits ] | 115 |
| XVII. | [The Lamp ] | 121 |
| XVIII. | [The Secret Entrance ] | 133 |
| XIX. | [The Lawyer Again ] | 141 |
| XX. | [Deductions ] | 146 |
| XXI. | [The Steward ] | 157 |
| XXII. | [Orton's Alibi ] | 167 |
| XXIII. | [Gramercy Park ] | 177 |
| XXIV. | [The Signet Ring ] | 192 |
| XXV. | [The Deception ] | 200 |
| XXVI. | [James Gilmore ] | 208 |
| XXVII. | [The Strong Box ] | 216 |
| XXVIII. | [Gold and Blue ] | 222 |
| XXIX. | [The Reward ] | 229 |
| XXX. | [The Curio Shop ] | 236 |
| XXXI. | [The Rescue ] | 243 |
| XXXII. | [Lee's Story ] | 250 |
| XXXIII. | [The Second Bullet ] | 257 |
| XXXIV. | [The Woman in the Case ] | 265 |
| XXXV. | [A Strange Account ] | 273 |
| XXXVI. | [The Trap ] | 282 |
| XXXVII. | [McKelvie's Triumph ] | 288 |
| XXXVIII. | [The Motive ] | 297 |
| XXXIX. | [Conclusion ] | 309 |
THE MYSTERY OF
THE HIDDEN ROOM
CHAPTER I
THE NOTE
I had intended spending the evening at the Club; but after my solitary meal, I found that I was too tired to care to leave my own inviting fireside. Drawing up a chair before the open grate in my library, for the October night was chill and the landlord had not sufficiently relented to order the steam-heat, I settled myself comfortably with my book and pipe. The story I had chosen was a murder mystery, extremely clever and well-written, and so engrossed did I become that I was entirely oblivious to the passage of time.
The entrance of my man, Jenkins, brought me back to my surroundings with a start to find that the clock on the mantel was chiming eleven. A little impatient at the interruption for I had not concluded the story, I grew sarcastic.
"What is it, Jenkins? Have you come to remind me that it is long past my bed-time?" I inquired.
Jenkins' face grew longer if such a thing were possible in a countenance already attenuated by nature into the semblance of perpetual gloom, and shook his head with a grieved air as though he considered my remark an aspersion upon his knowledge of his duties as a valet.